TWU TRAINING, EDUCATION &
INDUSTRIAL RIGHTS FUND
Corrections to this morning's Sunday Program broadcast into the TWU's Training, Education & Industrial Rights fund.
Background
The Training, Education & Industrial Rights Fund was established to improve the welfare of transport workers and their families. Its function is to obtain better rights and conditions for members of the transport industry, to train transport workers in proper safety procedures and to inform them of all their industrial rights under all State & Commonwealth Legislation.
Since 2003, 3,101 TWU delegates, activists, OH&S representatives and members have received 16,780 hours of face-to-face training in courses and programs delivered by the Fund.
The fund is one aspect of an integrated strategy to reduce deaths and injuries in the heavy vehicle industry. Its work has been vital to improving safety conditions and awareness throughout the industry.
Political Disclosures
The Transport Workers Union is proud to have participated in the fight for fairness for working families by campaigning against WorkChoices. Transport workers are especially vulnerable to poor industrial laws as it directly impacts on their ability to operate their vehicles safely.
The TWU's involvement in the campaign against WorkChoices reflects a long and deep tradition of participating in public campaigns for the rights of TWU members, throughout the Union's 120-year history. Last October, the TWU acknowledged that, as part of the anti-Workchoices campaign, rank and file members and delegates attended local functions with four MPs and political candidates. An administrative error resulted in tickets being purchased using monies from the Training, Education & Industrial Rights Fund (“the Fund”).
All such monies have been returned and the fund has been reimbursed. This was reported in The Daily Telegraph.
At the time, the Union committed to a full independent review of the fund by Deloitte. The Union also committed to review all political expenditure.
The review makes clear that monies mistakenly used from the fund, so rank and file members could attend local functions, was disclosed to the Election Funding Authority of New South Wales (EFA) last August.
Furthermore, in the course of implementing the Deloitte recommendation, the TWU filled a voluntary amendment to its EFA disclosure, outlining monies spent from general TWU funds.
This morning's allegations by the Sunday program of non disclosure are therefore false.
The Union will continue its review into all political expenditures and ensure compliance with relevant electoral laws. The Union is disappointed that the Sunday program went to air relying either on old electoral information or the false allegations of persons attempting to poach TWU members so they can establish a rival Union.
The Union is disappointed that the Sunday program did not inform their viewers of these persons motivations after the TWU made it clear to the program.
The Union is also disappointed that the Sunday program chose not to disclose to its viewers that on two occasions person/s who appeared on their show had threatened to make these false allegations unless they received cash payments from funds belonging to TWU members.
The TWU has reported this shakedown to the NSW Police and have demanded that the Sunday program pass on all interview notes & documents to the Police in the interest of full disclosure.
Furthermore the Union is disappointed that the Sunday program failed to report that a person/s appearing on their program is spending tens of thousands of dollars attempting to avoid a determination by the Industrial Court of New South Wales into whether he is a fit and proper person.
The Training Education & Industrial Rights Fund
The Training, Education & Industrial Rights Fund was established to improve the welfare of transport workers and their families. Its function is to obtain better rights and conditions for members of the transport industry, to train transport workers in proper safety procedures and to inform them of all their industrial rights under all State & Commonwealth Legislation.
Since 2003, 3,101 TWU delegates, activists, OH&S representatives and members have received 16,780 hours of face-to-face training in courses and programs delivered by the Fund.
Agreements relevant to the establishment of the fund are publicly available through the New South Wales Industrial Relations Commission. TWU staff, including the persons who appeared on this morning's broadcast, have been trained in the fund's operation and in its agreement making processes. At no point has any TWU staff member been instructed to link OHS safety breaches to payments to the fund.
The TWU notes that no such complaints have been filed with the Union. The only person/s who have confessed to engaging in this behaviour, against expressed TWU policy, were those person/s who appeared on the Sunday program.
The TWU will continue prosecuting companies that threaten the lives of all road users by breaking the law or by underpaying their staff. Such prosecutions have, for example, resulted in back payments to workers of over $56 303.68 from Allied Couriers – a company named in this morning's broadcast.
In the financial year of 2006/2007, 228 people needlessly died in heavy vehicle incidents on Australian roads. In this climate, clients who place undue pressure on trucking companies and drivers, particularly, in long distance transport, should be prosecuted.
An ongoing investigation into a north coast NSW transport operator has uncovered at least 400 breaches of driving hours between January and June 2007. This investigation followed a complaint from a family member of a suicide victim who believed that excessive driving hours, and associated drug use contributed to their death.
Deloitte Review
The independent Deloitte review was voluntary commissioned by the Transport Workers Union.
The independent review by Deloitte does not claim that the TWU has acted improperly or inappropriately with the funds payments. Deloitte claim:
“The majority of expenditure tested was found to have been incurred within the broad Agreement wording of the Fund objectives. Some items of expenditure tested during the review period, whilst relatively small compared to the overall expenditure of the Fund, may fall outside the objectives of the Fund.”
The TWU has accepted the advice contained in the Deloitte review, as reported in the Australian Financial Review, in February. All recommendations from the Deloitte report will be implemented in full.
The report has been available to all TWU members and the general public through our website within a week of being received.
The Union's rank & file Branch Committee of Management has already decided to form a company limited by guarantee, to assume the functions of the fund.
It is intended that this new structure will include employer representation on its? board and union representatives will be nominated from the TWU's rank & file Branch Committee of Management.
All such information was available to the 'Sunday' program and the Union is disappointed that the program misrepresented and did not fully report the Deloitte review.
Update On Federal Inquiries
The previous Federal Minister for Workplace Relations commissioned inquiries into the fund by the Australian Electoral Commission, the Australian Taxation Office, The Australian Industrial Registry and the Australian Securities & Investment Commission.
At that time, the TWU made clear that it would cooperate with all inquiries, and has done so. The TWU is continuing to cooperate with all inquiries. In correspondence with the Union, the Australian Industrial Registry (AIR) has said:
To date, on the basis of the information before me I am broadly satisfied that there has not been any omission in the financial reports of the TWU and its NSW Branch in relation to an Industrial Rights Training and Education Fund reported in the Sunday program of 23 September 2007.?
The AIR will finalise its position after considering the Deloitte report, transmitted through to them on Friday February 22nd 2008.
Media Inquiries Josh McIntosh (0408 463 199)
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